


Freeze and Thaw

by asiriusfan



Series: Of Deer and Men [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 15:05:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4791827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asiriusfan/pseuds/asiriusfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  Jily + "What a treacherous thing to believe a person is more than just a person."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freeze and Thaw

Lily closed her book and stretched along the couch, careful not to knock over any of the other books piled up around her.

"Okay," she announced to James, who was reading a book of his own in the chair next to her, "three hours is the maximum amount of time I can deal with transfiguration in a sitting. I'm done."

James nodded and closed his book. Lily frowned at his silence - not because his current hush was bothering her, but because after an entire week of noncommittal grunts and jerks of the head, she was starting to think something was seriously wrong. She quickly plastered a smile on her face and gave normalcy one last try.

"I'm free for the rest of the night, if you want to head to the office and… _revise patrols_."

And despite the fact that Lily had made her true meaning very clear coupled with the fact that James was a teenage boy and should, by all accounts, love " _revising patrols_ ", he simply shrugged.

"All right," Lily said, sitting up and facing James. "What's wrong?"

Again, James shrugged, but this time he managed a quiet "Nothing" along with it.

"Something is obviously wrong," Lily pressed on. "I'm not stupid, James."

"I've just had something on my mind, it's nothing," he said, giving as much of a verbal shrug as Lily's ever heard. "Let's just call it a night." He rose and started walking toward the staircase up to the dorms.

"Well if it's bothering you that bad then why not just get it out?" Lily stood, but refused to drop the subject.

James turned back to face her, looking agitated. "It's not the right time."

"Neither was any other day this week, apparently."

James quieted at this, but wouldn't meet Lily's eyes as he thought over her words. She was just about to prompt him when he started. "I just…I think…."

"Yes?" Lily asked after a moment's silence.

"We should break up."

Two summers ago Lily had gone to an exhibit in London that focused on new scientific advances and their potential worldly applications as a way to make up for the fact that her muggle education stopped completely after primary school. One particular development that fascinated her was the science of cryonics, and the idea that by freezing the body of someone who is legally dead, they can be resuscitated later once science finds a way to cure them.

As ridiculous as it was, that was the first thought that entered her mind as James' words left his mouth, her blood running cold and numbing her body despite the increased pace of her heartbeat. She could almost feel the parts of her body powering down, going to sleep, deciding to disappear and come back later, come back at a better time. And in the midst of all the words running frantically through her frozen mind, only one came out, and just barely at that.

"What?"

James fidgeted, but otherwise kept going, his eyes still downcast. "Yeah, it's just…well it's been a long time coming, and-"

"A long time coming?" Lily repeated, her voice sounding rusty despite being fine a moment ago. "James, we've been dating for two months. How long could this have been coming?"

James shrugged, his attention seemingly focused on the patch of carpet he was kicking at with his foot. "I don't know, these things just happen, they-"

"Is this about the threats?"

James tensed only briefly, but Lily managed to catch it before he played it off. "No, of course-"

"It is. Don't lie to me. Don't fucking  _lie_  to me."

"Lil, come-"

"It's Lily," she snapped, her body catching up (powering on, thawing out) and assuming a defensive position as anger started bubbling in the pit of her stomach. "Or why don't we just move all the way back to Evans, if you're just going to start treating me like shit again."

"I'm not…it's…you're taking this too personally," he stumbled, settling on the wrong argument.

"Too  _personally_?" Lily all but yelled. "You're dumping me and I'm taking it  _too personally_?"

James shook his head, backtracking. "That's not what I meant…see,  _this_  is why I was waiting-"

"Oh, I'm sorry this isn't the most convenient time for you to fuck me over." And after already melting once, she found that heat, too, could thaw.

"Lily," he sighed, as Lily felt sadness replace the fire.

"You don't get to do this," she said, barely above a whisper. Her voice sounded choked and Lily could see in James' expression that she was crying. He'd been expecting anger, he was prepared for that. Good, she thought, as a flicker of vindication shot through her, he shouldn't get it easy.

He gathered himself. "I don't get to break up with you? Lily, that's-"

Her next words were slow, her tone measured. "You don't get to  _make me_  fall in love with you and then decide I'm more trouble than I'm worth. You don't get to do  _that_."

James stared at her, and for one hopeful second, Lily thought he might change his mind.

"You think I want this?" he finally asked, but Lily thought his voice was too steady, too complacent.  _Yes, you do_.

It was while she was drafting her next argument that she saw it, the determination in his eyes, and she knew she wouldn't be able to dissuade him. Feeling pathetically useless, Lily shook her head and turned to go up to her dorm, only turning at the last second. "You're an idiot," she spat, hoping that the words bit into him as this entire night did to her. She didn't stick around to see if they did.


End file.
